At what age did your parents allow you to move about the city unaccompanied?

11, they didn’t want to take me to middle school

My son is free to go around town at 13. We live in Brooklyn. He goes to school in downtown Brooklyn by himself. He goes to Manhattan sometimes.

I was going to the corner stores at the age of 5 to get milk, bread, cigarettes for the smaller kids jk they're for my dad the second hand smoke was for me. Then weirdly after moving to long island i couldn't play past the corner. It was supposed to be a safer place but we had unusually bigoted neighbors.

1. i wanted to go to a good school, i dealt with the commute myself.

Around 13-14 I got free rein to go around the city on my own, as long as I told my parents where I was going. I was… mostly truthful

I think in middle school I was allowed to take occasional trips on my own, but rarely needed to. By freshman year of high school I was taking the subway on my own routinely.

In Brooklyn, we'd hang around each other's neighborhoods starting around 11 or 12 unaccompanied, by 13-14 everyone took public transportation to school so at that point we started going to the city during our free time.

Bridge and tunneler from LI who was allowed in at 13… this would have been mid-late 80’s.

10 years old taking subway from B'klyn to Times Square by myself.

Once I started taking the bus to middle school, it was probably 11-12. After school I was allowed to hang out with friends in the park near the school, but had to be home before my parents so I’d usually head home by 5pm

Unaccompanied around the neighborhood- probably at 9 (4th grade) I could walk to a friends house or the park or the library. 11 for buses within Brooklyn (alpine 7plex represent!) and I was expected to take my own ass self to the orthodontist via bus. Anywhere public transit could take me at 12. By 14 I was a daily commuter to HS in Manhattan. And back in those days, there was no limit on using your free subway pass.

Walking around the neighborhood to store and park starting at age 8-9. Rode the bus together at ages 10 + 8 (older girl and younger boy) and walked seven blocks to school at the same age together or with friends. When my daughter was 11 and my son was 9 they rode 5 stops on the C line to get to summer camp. 11 and on they were allowed to visit friends in bus or train with frequent check ins when they arrived. By the time my daughter started HS at 14 she had to commute 1 hour to the LES on several trains and she was a pro. Same for my son who had to do a shorter commute to school in the Bronx.

10, going to school and coming home or going to the pizzeria and stuff

10

By 11 I would take the bus home alone. By 12/13 I was out hanging in the park, shopping, or at the movies without supervision outside of school hours - my middle school also allowed us to leave during lunch in 8th grade if we stayed within half a mile of the school. In high school my parents had no idea where I was.

I was allowed to take Metro-North from CT alone with friends at 14. Basically just went to China town and got boba and bought counterfeit bags. Started going to all ages shows at Irving plaza at 15.

I was a middle child so I was never allowed to go out by myself but only if it was to go buy groceries or do some other errand.

12, in the Bronx. I wasn’t taking a school bus anymore and had to commute to my middle school starting in 7th grade. But I wasn’t able to go to a different borough on my own until I was in high school

In middle school (in Staten Island) I was allowed move in a proscribed radius (like to the deli, library, pizzeria etc.) when my parents had a general idea of where I was going and with who, and then in high school I was allowed to take public transit and go into Manhattan, because I was taking myself to school daily on public transit so my parents knew I could handle it. None of this was ever allowed to be spontaneous though lol. (And also my parents were way more permissive about this than a lot of my friend's parents, because Staten Island, so the friends who could venture into Manhattan with me were few and far between!)

10

Very young like 11 year old when I graduated elementary school and went to JR high school.. they handed my mom a green metrocard lol in the 90s

After that i started going to school by mistake cuz my parent couldn’t take me

My commute was about 30min took the 1 train uptown

For my kid, start of middle school. 

1. By 16 i was a menace. Had alot to get off

to go around completely alone, they didn't let me until i was 12 years old. i was allowed to go around the neighborhood with other kids and no adults when i was like 10 tho

11 on Staten Island- that was going to and from school and to "town" in Great Kills. By 13 I was heading into Manhattan/Brooklyn on my own (My dad lived in Manhattan).

12 ish (mid 2000’s and I was in middle school)

12 or 13

I was 12 when I started being able to go to school on my own (BK, not Manhattan)

With their blessing? 18 as my parents are extremely overprotective, but I lived near the train station so I came and went as I pleased around age 9. Visited my cousins once in Staten Island and got busted for it around 11. It never stopped me from doing what I wanted when I wanted to.

I grew up on Long Island. Parents didn’t let me until i was 17 and even then was limited until I turned 18. They had a warped perception of the city

In the bronx, I started being able to take my sister and one short bus ride to my moms job afterschool around 12ish. Then the train to h.s also in the BX. Then finally around 16 did they let me go into Manhattan at 16 with my friends ( we'd go to times sq to use the sephora makeup samples, forever 21 and then olive garden for the lil samples of wine with our food lol 2007 was a weird time)

I grew up in Cambria Heights, Queens. I went to a school in Laurelton that required me to take two buses, which I started doing with my sister in the 6th grade, so I was 11 to 12 years old. When I started high school, it was a private school in Woodside, so I had to take the bus and two trains (E to the 7).

I recently moved from NYC but if I had stayed, this would have been the year I teach my boys to take the bus independently. They are 11 and would have started junior high.

Not raised here, but I traveled here alone for the first time at 14, stayed with relatives and did what I wanted alone most of the time. Just had to tell my parents my plan and have my cellphone on me. Saw lots of theater, movies, and ate out a lot. Kept doing that for a month every summer until I moved here for college.

My parents grew up in the city so I guess they weren't that concerned cause they roamed around the city as kids and NYC felt a lot seedier then.

Around 10. My elementary school was a 20 min walk. So in 5th grade my parents let me walk there as long as i walked with my friend/fellow 5th grader.

Then my middle school had a train commute.

For me, 15 because my mom didn’t grow up in the city and is still a helicopter parent now even tho I’m 26 and don’t live with her anymore. I obviously would lie to her and walk around by myself anyway earlier than that, but 15 is when I was allowed to.

For my middle siblings, my brother was around 10/11 and sister A was around 7/8 and they could go around unaccompanied but together. Their mom didn’t care then and doesn’t care now what they do or where they are.

My youngest sister just turned 14 and is still being picked up by our father at school. Idk what clicked or changed when he entered the relationship with her mother, but our youngest sister is his “entire world” and is way more protected/sheltered than the rest of us. Idk when she’ll be allowed to walk by herself anywhere

8 or 9

Walks around the neighborhood (few block radius) at 9 or 10 (5th grade). MTA bus to school at 12 going on 13 (start of 8th grade). Subway at 14 (was 13 at start of high school but my mom was overprotective but also loving and drove me for the first half of the year 😭). This was all in Sunset Park/Bay Ridge, going into Park Slope for high school.

Highschool

Around 11 or 12.

Mid-90s when I was 14 to travel on subway from one outer borough to another to go to highschool .

1. Subway to Manhattan

Probably 7 or 8 around the neighborhood and 6th grade was the first time I took public transportation by myself. This was in the mid 90s.

9ish. We had to practice using a pay phone to call home first, and make sure we always had a quarter

Side note: As the mom of an almost 2-year-old, this thread is so crazy to me. I can't believe one day my little baby will be on the subway by himself at like 11 or 12! It seems WILD to me lol

12

11 or 12 taking the subway alone

I was 9 or 10 when I started public bussing back and forth to school, and probably 13 when I was allowed to subway into “the city” with my friends for the day. Grew up (and still live) in Brooklyn.

Probably like 21 and theyre still not thrilled about it

14 lol

I was leaving the house and traveling alone on the subway when I was in middle school

Started walking back from school by myself by 10, and taking the subway at 11.

middle school age from south bronx to UES daily on my own. outside of school commute was a bit of different story though until high school.

12-13 I don’t remember. I went home from school since grade 1. To school same but half the time my parents took me to school.

1. I had to take the train to high school from Queens to Manhattan

13-14. I went to hs far from my house and I took the bus to school everyday.

10 to walk around the neighborhood. 13 to take the subway alone.

11

12

I could walk to my elementary school. When I was in middle schoo I took the bus/train by myself.

11 to go to school

10, taking the bus to school across the park. I’ve found most kids commute alone during middle school

12

Prob jr high school, so 12? Queens native here

5th grade

1. Had to go to school on public transportation.

10

Well I moved here at 15 from San Francisco so… 15.

I grew up in the city there too, and I’ve been taking the public bus to school since I was 12. So, if I’d gotten here a few years sooner, I’m sure it would have been 12 or 13 too.

not me, but our kid started at 9 1/2

I was walking to elementary school by myself in the 80s. Taking trains by myself in middle school

My wife asked me this not long ago. I don't have a clear memory but I was a student at the School of American Ballet from 11 to 16 and do remember going from JHS 104 to Julliard and back throughout that time. My parents did give me cab fare often to make it safer (this was 81-86), but I also remember taking the subway home at night to Stuyvesant Town very often as well - sometimes after parties and after midnight.

I would guess 12 or 13 years old. But I did walk to and from elementary school alone but that was only four blocks.

Moved from Long Island right after I graduated high school

10 (Queens)

My elementary school was across the street from our building. Was allowed to walk home by myself at 3pm at age 7. Always stopped at the deli for a bag of wise cheez doodles before going home tho. This was lower Manhattan (two bridges/chinatown)

My mom had me go two blocks away to the corner store for soda, snacks, eggs, milk, and lotto tickets around 3rd to 5th grade. I also walked myself to Sunday School a few blocks away by those ages.

And of course, if you grew up here you get the green student metrocard in middle school to travel to and from school so I'd assume the majority of answers fall around then if not before. And NYC public schools aren't necessarily zoned... I had to take 3 busses to/from middle school (and two for high school). My parents had day jobs so they weren't driving around to pick me up at 2:45pm, and I honestly don't recall any friends who didnt take the bus with their metrocards after school by that point.

And with that, we weren't going straight home but instead loitering around parks, shops, Queens Center Mall, subway into the city. Then begging bus drivers to let us on after we overused the three swipes or whatever that's allowed before 9pm on the student card.

8, most people have better things to do than bother a child on the subway

14 to attend high school in downtown Brooklyn

i'm turning 20 soon and still not allowed!

Walking to school was 5th grade. By 7th so aged 12. I was going around Manhattan during daytime by myself. They were cool with the bus more so with the train at that time. But the train in the 90s wasn’t so great. So my answer is fully sixth grade. And I am was not a big kid. But getting mugged was part of the experience at that point in time

14 is when i got train by myself access, but mainly cause up until then i had no reason to be on the train by myself. my school and friends were all walking distance. i could take the bus by myself, but it was always at most 2 stop so idek if i would count that. when i turned 14 and started going to high school, i had limited options for my school choice since i HAD to go to a catholic school and i didn’t want to go to an all girls school and the only co-ed catholic high school i could go to was only a train away, but abt an hr commute (car and train…). then when i was 15 i got my first job in manhattan bc i needed one so my parents gave me free reigns to travel wherever in nyc as long as i was back by 6-7. if i was working and had to stay later, they would usually try to pick me up.

Has the timing of this question anything to do with the Netflix show ‘Eric’? My wife & I had this same discussion last night.

I was 13. I lived in Queens but I went to HS in Manhattan. I used to wander around Central Park/Columbus circle area/Times Square after school, sometimes coming home as late as 7/8pm but definitely before my green metrocard stopped working by 9. My parents would get mad not knowing my whereabouts but it was my few moments of freedom before coming home to do homework.

7th grade was the first year I was allowed to commute home by myself, so 12 years old. This was 1996, though

10, but only during daylight.

8 to the corner store alone but just there and back 11 to hang out on my block 12/13 to hang out with my girls all around Harlem, we didn’t really have a reason to leave Harlem I don’t rmbr taking the train alone until 15 but that’s because I don’t really rmbr riding the train much at all

12

13/14ish regularly, started around 12 occasionally

1964 - when I was 13! Went to the Worlds Fair and the brand new Shea Stadium

I started going to school alone in 3rd grade. My mother would wait with me for the crosstown M79 bus and I'd hop on with my friend. 4th grade I got really into skating so I had free roam of the city.

Around 13! Lived in queens but went to middle school/high school in Manhattan so took public transit. This was in the late 2000s/early 2010s and in my parents case, it helped I did have a basic cellphone so that they could get in touch with me.

My school let us start going out for lunch in 5th grade. Beyond that, started taking the train alone at 11

9, went to school on the bus 45 mins away LoL

Not to the city but my parents let my brother and I take the bus from Queens to Bed Stuy when I was 7. They didn't want us to be home alone after school so they showed us the bus route to their business. And since we were both under the max height bar, they said we didn't have to pay so we used to just walk in and the driver didn't say anything.

This was in the mid 80s and no one batted an eye. Definitely would not happen today.

11,12

1. But I grew up in Russia. 13 in NYC I think

1. I had to commute to one of the specialized schools.

They need to explore by themselves and do things by themselves sometimes. If you always give a kid a hand then they will become baby adults

At 10 I would take the bus to downtown Flushing by myself.

6th grade! Started off by needing to use the subway daily to take myself to middle school when it was no longer walkable like my elementary school in our neighborhood

7 in 2002. My commute was small though, just the 1 train from 137th to 103rd and like a 4 block walk.

10, to get to school

Sometime in 4th or 5th grade. By middle school, everybody was going home by themselves

12, it started with coming home from middle school on my own and then I navigated my social life independently.

To school, around 8 and onward. Subways…somewhere around 11-12?

We lived in Brooklyn and my daughter went to middle school at Lab in Chelsea. We would travel together until she switched at Chambers. She took the last leg on her own beginning at 11. She wasn't bopping around on her own otherwise, but that's because she had a lousy sense of direction.